[12.02.2ÎÎ4] Labor Migrants Draw Attention of NGOs

The mostly uncontrolled exodus of the Kyrgyz labor migrants is increasing. According to unofficial estimations, for every legal Kyrgyz labor migrant there are two or three illegal ones. The data of the Embassy of the Kyrgyz Republic in Russia say there are nearly 300,000 labor immigrants from Kyrgyzstan working in Russia. The estimated amount of illegal Kyrgyz labor immigrants in Russia is about 200,000 people. The head of the Migration Department of the Kyrgyz Ministry of Foreign Affairs Igor Gromov says the governments of both Kyrgyzstan and Russia are trying to solve the problem of labor migrants by ratifying treaties on enhancement of the social security and simplification of registration process for labor migrants. Some civil and non-governmental organizations are getting involved in the issue. Ahmat Maduev, director of the Center of the Social Technologies and "Labor Migration in Central Asia: problems and perspectives of the regional cooperation" international project coordinator, says one of the primary goals of the organization is to inform labor migrants about their rights and responsibilities abroad. Maduev also highlighted the urgency of solving the problems of labor migrants on the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border, for during the springtime the number of laborers crossing the border will increase dramatically constituting 3,000 people per day.